


The Birdsfoot Trefoil and the Bees

by GoodyearTheShippyCat



Category: Starfighter (Comic)
Genre: Academia, Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Flirting, Biology, Denial of Feelings, Ethos is a Good Friend, Finally Using My Grad Degree, Flowers, Gossip, Graduate School, Here Have All My Good Academia Feels, Hints of Abel/Cain, Hints of Athos/Ethos, Hints of Cook/Phobos, Hints of Ethos/Phobos, Love Triangles, M/M, Mean Girl Phobos, Plants, Pre-Relationship, Rivalry, Science, To Write Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-03 16:25:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19467703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodyearTheShippyCat/pseuds/GoodyearTheShippyCat
Summary: What should have been an uneventful day of experiment prep turns into a series of distractions for Aleks, thanks to the antics of his fellow grad students in the Department of Integrative Biology at Sleipnir College.





	The Birdsfoot Trefoil and the Bees

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 4 of the Starfighter Summer Challenge I’m using both the College AU theme, and the pairing for the day, Phobos/Abel. Well, it’s in there. Amongst numerous other pairings, including another for each of them… because ~~I’m multishipping trash~~ it’s college and everyone wants to bone each other, leading to many love triangles, unrequited feelings, and sweet (or sometimes inappropriate…) crushes.  
> This fic (a.k.a. Plant Scientist/Biologist/Academia AU) was heavily inspired by an early conversation I had upon joining the Starfighter Discord way back in 2017. And, of course, by my own educational background. In fact, I think it was the first AU concept I played around with, at [violetnyte](https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetnyte/)’s suggestion. 
> 
> Name Reference:  
> Aleks = Deimos  
> Aidan = Ethos  
> Jules = Phobos  
> Marcus = Praxis  
> Ethan = Abel  
> Sacha = Cain  
> Ardhendu = Selene  
> Chris = Porthos  
> Simon = Keeler  
> James = Encke  
> Drew = Athos  
> Some fanon names are borrowed from violetnyte (most notably Ethos’, Praxis’, and Athos'), one is from on_the_wing (Selene’s), and Porthos’ name comes from @portalipsis on tumblr. Any others are older ones that I don't know who to give attribution to.

The smell of soil, freshly mixed to his specifications, overwhelmed the greenhouse. Aleks breathed it in as he reached down into the giant bin of it, filling one of the skinny pots, tamping it down gently, and adding a bit more. Content at the fact that everything was going according to plan. Excited for the start of an experiment he’d worked so hard to design and obtain funding for. It was the perfect complement to the modeling he’d been doing on optimal reproductive investment for plants capable of selfing and outcrossing.

He’d begun his germination protocol the previous week. Now the little green cotyledons were poking out, radicles looking delicate but ready for planting. A neat row of plastic tags sat on one of the greenhouse benches next to him, ready to be stuck into packed dirt once the pots were all filled. He’d spent the better part of his afternoon yesterday labelling them—all two thousand of them—and bundling them into stacks of twenty five, held together with elastics.

“Mind if I run an idea past you?” asked Aidan, pausing the podcast they were listening to with a slightly grubby hand, hastily wiped off on the leg of his worn jeans.

Aleks shook his head and looked expectantly back at his labmate for a moment, before returning to filling the pot in his hand. He was more than happy to listen to whatever Aidan was mulling over in exchange for the help setting up his experiment. None of their undergraduate volunteers had been able to make it that day, and there was a lot more work than one person could do alone.

“I was thinking about changing my inoculation method for the field experiment I talked about in lab meeting last week…”

Aleks half-listened to his friend go on about the same idea he’d been working at for the past month or two, at least. His focus drifted, thoughts popping in and out of his head. One struck him as funny, and he wondered if it was common for people to be drawn to study systems that look like them.

Aidan had studied multiple legume species at this point, hopping from study system to study system. His new obsession with Birdsfoot Trefoil, however, was something different. He was always bringing up new papers he’d read on it, even if they were barely even remotely related to any of the questions he was focused on. The pretty little weed was bright and sunny, with practically fluffy-looking inflorescences of yellow flowers.

It reminded Aleks a bit of his labmate’s tousled blond curls and cheerful disposition.

“…and Professor Hayden seemed to think that might be the right way to go about it when I saw him in the lunchroom on Wednesday. I’m glad I ended up deciding to ask him to be on my committee instead of Professor Bering,” Aidan continued to ramble as he often did around Aleks, a comfortingly familiar pattern for both of them, “He seems almost as intimidating, but he’s actually so thoughtful once you get to know him. He’s always checking in to see how my work is going, and reminding me his office door is always open if there’s anything I want to discuss. Oh! But what do you think, Aleks? Would it work better?”

Aleks nodded slowly, then shrugged. He didn’t see why not.

“Ask Ardhendu?” he suggested, voice barely audible over the ambient noise of the houses around them automatically regulating their temperature and humidity.

“Hmmm, I guess you’re right. When in doubt, ask a microbial ecologist!” Aidan laughed before turning the podcast back on, dirt getting on the screen of his phone.

Aleks shuddered at the sight, but knew the weather-proof, field work-proof case would keep everything out. A muddy-boots guy like Aidan pretty much _had_ to invest in that sort of thing, even if it did make his phone as clunky as if it were a first generation smartphone. He still didn’t like the thought of the most expensive thing he owned getting dropped in the dirt. Or worse yet, a freshly tilled bit of old field in a rainstorm. His grant wouldn’t pay for a replacement.

Aleks fell into the rhythm of the task at hand, losing track of time while they listened to another episode of the storytelling podcast Aidan loved. He liked it for lightly stimulating background noise, at any rate, even if he couldn’t be bothered subscribing to it, himself.

When the public radio ad played at the end, he looked up to take stock of all the planter racks they’d filled so far. They were making good progress.

Movement caught Aleks’ eye from between locks of the black fringe of hair hanging over his face. In the next house over, the assistant greenhouse manager was spraying a bunch of kudzu, probably for thrips. Even with a respirator mask on, he was extremely handsome—dark, serious eyes softened by a boyish haircut.

He looked up and met Aleks’ gaze through the glass, raising one gloved hand to wave at him. His mouth was hidden by the respirator, but his cheekbones lifted as if he was smiling.

Aleks gave a small smile in return, watching as the other man went back to his work.

“Earth to Aleks, are you still with us?”

Aleks whipped his head around to stare at his teasing labmate, then dropped his gaze to the soil bin and began filling pots with renewed vigor.

“Have you talked to Marcus yet?” asked Aidan.

Aleks nodded, focusing on his task.

“About something other than soil orders or climate conditions for the experiment setup?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Aleks shook his head from side to side with small motions, hoping not to have to talk about it any more. He heard a sigh from beside him and knew he had failed.

“You know I could always introduce you in a more casual conversation, right? I know him from when I was doing my Bachelors,” said Aidan, repeating what he’d mentioned on at least two previous occasions, “He was one of the upper year undergrad TAs for my Intro to Botany course before he did the horticultural program.”

Aleks shrugged, and was saved from having to fend off any more well-meaning attempts of Aidan’s to play matchmaker by a flurry of movement.

The human whirlwind who threw open the door—as dramatically as one could a heavy piece of metal and glass on hinges which were specifically designed to open and close slowly and smoothly—was his officemate. Jules was almost never in their shared office, though. Instead, he always seemed to come and find Aleks when he was in need of someone to complain to. While Aleks was in the lab, or the greenhouse, or on a few occasions in the tiny department library. Which always earned them dirty looks from the sole librarian behind the desk, even if nobody else was in there.

“Ughhhhh, Simon is such a pain!” Jules whined, without even bothering to say hello, “Must he _always_ be looking over my shoulder when I’m loading up samples?”

Aidan and Aleks exchanged a glance, trying to determine whether the question was rhetorical or if they were expected to give some kind of response. Aleks figured he was probably safe from the requirement, as he rarely bothered to say anything to his officemate at all.

Jules wandered over to the bench that Aidan’s phone was propped up on and hit pause on the podcast, wrinkling his nose a little at the dirt on the screen and dusting his hand off afterwards.

“Unlike most people in this department, I actually know my way around next gen sequencers.”

“I- I’m sure he’s just trying to make sure everyone’s stuff gets, uh, processed in the correct order… or something. I mean, he does manage the entire genomics lab,” Aidan tried to reason with the other man, but it was a futile effort.

“Pfft, it’s not like I’m going to turn off one of the machines while it’s running. I don’t need him babysitting! And when I tell him that, of course James gives me the _dirtiest_ look from the fume hood across the room. God, they’re just the worst!”

Another commotion in the hall distracted even Jules from his ranting. All three men stopped what they were doing to watch as another grad student from the department, Ethan, jogged down the hall. He was swinging a little net around in wild, jerky motions between the overhead pipes and struts of the hallway.

“Did one of his bees escape again?” asked Aidan, peering through the glass walls at the net’s path.

As Ethan’s footfalls on the concrete floor receded, they got their answer from a second figure trailing after him at a relaxed, slouching pace.

“You’re just gonna scare her further off like that!” called out a sullen work study student with fashionably messy hair, bright streaks of turquoise in the front, “Tch! Wait for her to land.”

“Oh Ethan, what a hot mess,” said Jules once the two men in the hallway were out of sight, “Why does everyone think he’s such a prodigy, anyway?”

“Uhmm, I mean, he is really smart,” said Aidan, quietly, obviously knowing it was a bad decision but moved to stick up for his friend anyway.

Jules just ignored the dissent, steamrolling over the conversation as he usually did. “You know he got the highest level of grant funding, _again_? Even though his proposal was super sloppy and written last minute?” his officemate continued complaining.

“Oh, but it’s always easier to get a higher funding level again once you’ve gotten it once,” Aidan chimed in, getting a dirty look for his trouble.

“ _Meanwhile_ , I slaved over perfecting mine for days on end, neglecting my teaching prep for it, even,” said Jules, “Not that it matters, because the undergrads are all idiots this year. Like every year.”

Aleks couldn’t help his giggle at that, which made Jules smile momentarily, at least.

“Well, uh, we were those idiots once upon a time.”

The unimpressed stare which Jules levelled at the other man spoke volumes before he even opened his mouth.

“No, we weren’t. That’s why we’re here now, and half of _them_ are going to flunk out by the start of second year.”

“That might be oversimplifying a bit.”

“Come on, Aidan, it’s natural selection!”

“Pretty sure that’s not what Darwin was getting at…”

“Whatever!” Jules huffed before immediately moving on, “Speaking of Darwin, I’m definitely going to have to find a way to deduct points from every single one of my students who complains about having to learn evolutionary biology because _they’re_ ‘going to be a doctor’.”

Aleks had to repress a smile at the way Jules made air quotes with his fingers and mocked the overly serious tone of some students who, despite being fresh out of high school, seemed to think they were already halfway to their medical degrees. He had more than a few of them in his own lab sections.

“Pfft, not with those grades, honey!”

“I don’t know, I think more of them could do better than you’d expect if they had a little more support from their TAs…”

“Hmph, for every easy marker like you, the rest of us need to be extra strict to keep the grading curve where it should be!”

Aidan shrugged at that and returned to filling a pot, apparently giving up for now.

 _Probably a smart move,_ thought Aleks.

“Awww, where’s my favourite person to complain to, today?” whined Jules, draping himself over Aidan’s shoulder, “What’s wrong? You usually like hearing my witty observations about the state of the student population.”

When he didn’t get any response beyond the blush lighting up Aidan’s cheeks, Aleks’ officemate flopped dramatically onto the empty bench beside where they were working.

Aleks was actually relieved to see Aidan stand up to his mouthy officemate for once.

His shy labmate was assigned to the same office as Jules’ friend— _or was he his ex?_ —Chris, so Jules seemed to have slotted him into the same social role, to some extent. Which Aidan had seemed very excited about, suddenly part of an exclusive clique for probably the first time in his life, given how sweet and nerdy he was. Aleks still wasn’t sure whether it was good for him or not. He would have bet money that Aidan’s glowing words about his new “friend” belied a more complex set of feelings which his labmate had yet to acknowledge. But hell if he knew what to do about the situation.

Luckily, Jules’ capacity for running his mouth was greater than his annoyance.

_Really, with both of us in here and Chris away at that conference, who else is he going to find to rant to?_

“Well, at least Professor Cook said he was interested in seeing my upcoming results,” said Jules, seemingly changing the topic, “He understands. Us uncharismatic study-system scientists have to be more than twice as captivating as everyone else. His nematode work revolutionized the field, after all. There’s a reason he’s Department Chair already, even though he’s younger than a lot of the other faculty!”

“Don’t lots of people find fruit flies interesting, though?” asked Aidan.

“Not if they aren’t scientists, too. All any laypeople care about are the cute fucking bees,” Jules complained, coming full circle again, “ _‘Oh-em-gee, they’re dying, what do we dooooo???’_. Pfft! Fund more climate change research and stop voting morons into office, that’s what you can do.”

Almost as if summoned, Ethan came back into earshot and they watched as he followed his surly student through the hallway again. The dark-haired younger man held the net steady in front of him, the bag of it twisted and flipped over the rim, trapping the captured insect inside.

“I can’t believe you managed to catch her!,” said the other grad student, laying the praise on awfully thick, “My hero! What would I do without you?”

“Shamelessly flirting with a work study student? Disgusting,” Jules said under his breath, venom dripping from the words, “Clearly he’s forgotten the time his golden boy came in hung over and accidentally left the flight cage door open in the lab…”

Aidan was the first one to giggle at that, and Jules practically preened at the acknowledgement. Aleks had to admit it had been funny hearing Ethan run through the hallways, yelling into every office he passed that they were not to open the door to the Bering lab under any circumstances. The best bit had been the fact that the janitor missed the announcement, and could be heard from down the hall, exclaiming in confusion: ‘ _Bees?_ ’

“Are you still seriously considering doing that collaboration with him, Aleks? The open pollination impacts on male versus female function one?”

Aleks just inclined his head slightly, not wanting to get into the fact that he and Ethan had already met a few times to plan it out and determine when it would fit into both their schedules.

“Could you be any more of a traitor?” asked Jules, but didn’t wait for a response. He knew better than to bother, at this point, “You should stick by your theoretical roots instead of hobnobbing with… with stupid sexy behavioural researchers.”

He just kept filling pots. They were very nearly finished, now. He might not even need to stay late, thanks to Aidan’s help.

“Is _he_ going to be helping you with it?” Jules nodded in the direction the men in the hallway had disappeared back to.

“Sacha?” asked Aleks, surprised by the question.

“Is that the bee whisperer’s name? Oh my god, Aleks, don’t tell me you’re doing this to poach a work study student from another lab!”

Aleks gave him a flat look from behind the hair falling over his eye.

“Oh my... I didn’t realize you were so devious! I approve.”

Correcting his assumptions really wasn’t worth the effort, so instead Aleks opened up the last soil bin and started in on it. Jules continued to watch them work, babbling about everything from the upcoming student union meeting to the population genetics reading group’s paper selection for the next week.

The minute that the final rack of pots hit the bench, his chatty officemate lit up.

“Finally! And I thought prepping fly food was tedious,” he said with exaggerated relief, “It’s almost five already, want to head to the grad pub early?”

Aleks gestured to the tags he still needed to stake into each pot.

“But you don’t need two people for that! Aidan can come with me right now and you can join us later,” Jules said, bouncing on his toes in agitation, “We can still get there early enough to stake out a good table. I want to be able to keep my eye on Ethan and see which professors he’s been cozying up to.”

Aidan looked up from checking his email quickly, then pocketed his phone.

“Do you need me to stay any longer, Aleks?”

Aleks shook his head, already through a full rack of pots and undoing the elastic on the next set of tags.

“Perfect! Let’s go!” exclaimed Jules, grabbing Aidan’s wrist and trying to drag him off, “If we manage to grab Professor Cook’s usual table he’s almost certain to sit with us for part of the time.”

“Will you be able to finish on your own?” Aidan asked, standing his ground for the moment, ignoring the excited man pulling at his arm.

Aleks looked at him and nodded, waving towards the door to emphasize his point.

_Almost done, and it will go faster without distractions._

“Okay, if you’re sure,” said Aidan, still sounding reluctant but with a hint of excitement beneath it, “We’ll see you down there, then!”

“It’s a good thing I’m finished in the lab. Otherwise I’d have to decontaminate after being in here,” said Jules, adding, “I hope you know we’re detouring to the nearest sink along the way so you can wash your hands. Ugh, how do you plant people deal with this much dirt every day?” 

“I don’t know, I kind of like it. It’s relaxing.”

“It’s filthy is what it is,” Jules said as he opened the door.

“Do you know, um, if Drew is working today?” asked Aidan as he exited the house.

Aleks heard the response through the glass, and listened to their conversation get slowly subsumed by the background noise of glasshouse functions as they walked away.

“Who’s Drew?”

“You know… the uh, cute student bartender.”

“Honestly, Aidan, I don’t know what you see in that guy. He talks too much, and he’s a _sociologist_. Awful.”

Aleks mentally planned his tasks for tomorrow as his hands made quick work of tagging. He’d like to get all two thousand seedlings planted out; it would be a long day, but better to get it all done in one go.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a knock on the glass interrupted his thoughts.

“Hi Aleks, mind if I come in?”

Marcus, the assistant greenhouse manager, was standing in the hallway outside the house. Aleks waved him in and continued tagging.

“Hey, how’s set up going? Looks like you guys made good progress today,” he said from just inside the door.

Aleks shrugged and finished his current bundle of tags. Turning to pick up another, he noticed a collection of branch cuttings the other man was clutching in front of him. A profusion of different coloured flowers and pretty leaves stood out against the grey concrete and dull metal of their surroundings. He paused, quirking his head a little.

Marcus looked down at the unusual bouquet in his hand almost as if surprised to see it there.

“The larger plants in the tropical collection house needed pruning. It seemed a shame to toss such pretty blooms,” he said, “Uhh, I figured maybe you’d like some for your office?”

Aleks just stared, wide-eyed. Nobody had ever given him flowers before.

“I mean, the pitcher in mine is already stuffed to bursting…” continued the horticulturalist, filling the silence with an unnecessary explanation, “So really, you’d be doing me a favour, taking them off my hands.”

Smiling, Aleks stepped towards him, reaching out a hand to brush tentative fingers over smooth green leaves and thick, buttery petals. Marcus tilted the bundle of cuttings so that the end he held was easier to grab. Aleks took hold of it, their hands brushing in the transfer. His dirty fingers left trails of soil particulates on the other man’s conspicuously spotless ones.

“Well, I guess I should leave you to it,” said Marcus, shoving his now-free hands into his pockets, “Wouldn’t want to interrupt all the science going on.”

Aleks held back a giggle and looked down at the flowers again.

“See you on Monday, I guess.”

Marcus gave a little wave and opened the glasshouse door, looking inside one last time before walking back down the hallway. Aleks watched him get three houses down, then about-face to march back over. The door to his house opened again, without the knock this time.

“I forgot… Uh, if you need to change any of the day-night cycles or humidity gradients, just let me know. I’d be happy to help… Okay, bye again. See you later.”

“Coming to beers?” Aleks surprised himself by asking.

“Oh, I could probably pop by for a bit after I’ve finished cleaning up around here,” said Marcus, seeming to turn the idea over in his head a few times, “Are you planning to go?”

Aleks nodded.

“Leaving the rest for tomorrow?” Marcus pointed at the stacks of neatly bundled tags.

Aleks just shrugged. It was going to be a long weekend of work regardless. Maybe he would call it a night, depending how long he could be convinced to stay in the pub. Probably longer than normal if the tall, dark, and handsome horticulturalist ended up coming by.

“I guess I’ll see you down there, then?”

Aleks nodded.

“Great, uh, I’ll go finish up my stuff.”

He watched as Marcus left again, looking over his shoulder and smiling, but not walking back in this time.

Looking at the thousand plus pots he still had to stick tags in, Aleks decided it was time for a break. Besides, he needed to get the beautiful bouquet of tropical cuttings into some water.

He headed back down to the office he and Jules shared. Laying the branches on his desk momentarily, he reached up to grab the giant Erlenmeyer flask sitting on the shelf. It was unsafe to use for experimental work because of a cracked neck, but was perfect for a makeshift vase.

Once the cuttings were artfully arranged, all their ends reaching down into the water at the bottom of the flask, he surveyed his handiwork and found it pleasing.

Apparently so did the beta fish they’d adopted from when the undergrad behavioural ecology course was getting rid of extras from their experimental population. She swam over to look at the profusion of stems, distorted through two layers of glass with different curvatures. She lived in a big old beaker, her name proudly displayed on a piece of autoclave tape near the top of the fat cylinder of pyrex—‘Equinox’, neatly printed in purple sharpie, slightly smudged at the end. He opened her food container and shook some pellets into the water, watching her forget the new sight and swim excitedly over to gobble up the offering.

Figuring he’d delayed long enough and should probably make at least a brief appearance at Friday beers, Aleks went to the door and shut off the light. After locking the office door, he headed down the already-deserted hallway; the only night of the week it was this dead so early in the evening.

He wondered whether anyone would get tipsy enough tonight to do something stupid and become the talk of the department for the next week. If Jules would actually confront Ethan, or just end up schmoozing with Professor Cook again. If Aidan would ever work up the nerve to give the grad student bartender his number, or just hang off Jules for the entire night. If Marcus would come by for a beer, like he’d said.

…and whether he’d come and sit with Aleks for it.

END


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